The Cruise Lines International Association says a record 23 million people will cruise in 2015, on 22 new ships that represent an investment of more than $4 billion. The new chairman of CLIA, Adam Goldstein, says that while growth is solid—the forecast calls for four percent this year—the industry still faces challenges in convincing the majority of Americans, who are not cruisers, to try vacationing on a ship. To that end, the industry continues to diversify the types of vessels available, the on-board offerings, and the ports to which they sail. Goldstein also addressed concerns about safety: “Operational incidents” aboard ships have gone down 13% between 2009 and 2013, even as capacity went up by 18%. "Obviously we don't want any incidents," he added.

Delta quietly removed from its website the airline’s award chart, which shows how many miles it would cost to get a particular frequent flier flight. “This is one of the worst things an airline frequent flyer program has ever done,” Gary Leff writes. Now, consumers don’t know how many miles a flight might cost until the moment of booking, and Delta is free to devalue miles without scrutiny. “It used to be that airlines would at least have to tell you if there was going to be a devaluation,” writes Brett Snyder. “What Delta is saying now is that it will do whatever it wants and it won’t bother to let you know.” (Boarding Area and Cranky Flier)

Orbitz and Skiplagged “agreed to terms that will settle litigation filed by Orbitz,” the company says. Skiplagged is a travel search site that helps people find, among other types of flights, so-called hidden-city tickets, which can sometimes offer cheaper fares by gaming the way airline seats are priced. At issue was Skiplagged’s practice of sending users to Orbitz to book these fares; airlines obviously prohibit the practice. While Orbitz has settled its suit, a United claim against Skiplagged remains.

John Wogan on new hotels in Honolulu, Los Angeles, Mozambique, and New York City. (Condé Nast Traveler)

JetBlue will be the first airline to accept Apple Pay, starting next week. (USA Today)

A new company called HotelsByDay will let users book mid-day stays at hotels in select cities. It could be appealing for business travelers in search of a quiet space, but will the idea of spending the afternoon at a hotel be too weird for widespread adoption? (Condé Nast Traveler)

Christopher Elliott advocates for more free Wi-Fi at more hotels—and not just programs that make connections free for loyalty program members. (USA Today)

Stephanie Rosenbloom considers the many new vacation rental sites that are disrupting the disruptive Airbnb—and mentions “some veteran sites that all too often end up in the shadow of Airbnb.” (NYT)